Explain and evaluate the role of the National Probation Service in achieving social control - AC 3.1 - 3.4 Flashcards
What does the NPS do?
They work with released offenders to ensure they act correctly in society, they have a support network to make sure they don’t reoffend.
What does the NPS help with?
money, jobs, housing, etc.
How many people don’t reoffend once they have worked with the NPS?
6/10
What are some of the NPS’ core values and ethical principles?
Belief that offenders can change for the better - focus on rehabilitation
Priority is to protect the public by rehabilitating offenders through tackling the causes of their offences to enable them to turn their life around to not reoffend.
Who does the NPS work in partnership with?
courts, police, and partners in the private and voluntary sectors to manage offenders.
How many community rehabilitation companies are there in private sector organisations?
21 community rehabilitation companies (CRCs)
Why were the CRCs introduced?
To reduce recidivism rates within communities and to deliver better value for the tax payer and to create a criminal justice system that punishes offenders properly.
What was the incentive for the CRCs?
Managing offenders and if they reduced recidivism rates they would be paid more - privatisation are more money driven not justice driven
How many recalss were there at the beginning of 2018 and why?
5616
Non-compliance with licence conditions meaning a further charge - rehabilitation is not happening
what does the trend in recalls suggest about the CRCs?
Suggests that they are not working
What are 3 findings from the 2017 transforming rehabilitation report into CRCs?
Some supervise their offenders through telephone - concern over the level of supervision which also means not building a good relationship. Offenders can easily lie since their behaviour is not being monitored.
1 in 2 offenders are supervised by the same officer during their case - no familiarity, trust and also some gaps in knowledge.
Can;t apply for universal credit as they only have £46 once released - if released on Friday they have to wait 3 days ,as services are all closed, lasting on only that which could lead to reoffending.
What are the two types of clients the NPS supervise?
Offenders serving a sentence in the community eg. 300 hours of unpaid work
Offenders who have been released on licence from prison eg. prisoners serving 12 months or more can be released half way through their sentence with licence requirements.
What does conservative ideology favour?
Privatisation which means the running of public services in the hands of private companies.
The government will take the company with the highest bid not the highest qualifications.
What does Dame Glenys Stacey say about privatisation and its problem?
It is impossible to reduce probation services to a set of contractual requirements - But the people being dealt with have complex needs so they need more qualified people not just the higher bidder - ethical issues arise as they are using rehabilitation as a form of profit not what it is meant for.
What has happened to the number of convicts committing a serious further offence whilst under probation supervision since privatisation?
Risen by 20%
What has the Unison survey found from numerous of staff of probation?
Quality of evidence is poor and sometimes wrong, eg. offenders have been sent to court for not doing their community sentence even though they have it just hasn’t been documented.
40% staff cuts for pressure of the service
Offenders aren’t being monitored properly so they are therefore not attending the programmes.
How many offenders are on probation at any one time?
250,000
What are probation officers responsible for?
preparing pre-sentence reports for courts to help them select the most appropriate sentence
Assess prisoners to prepare them for their release back into the community
What are some issues in meeting the aims?
National shortage of probation officers - 13,800 as of 2022
high offender to staff ratio - probation officers have up to 60 cases at any time making them overworked which leads to mistakes and that their time is spread too thinly - can’t focus on all offenders. Norway have an average of 5 per officer
Staff shortages have had a catastrophic consequences eg. 3219 serious offences committed from those on probation, also rapes/sa. This is a direct consequence of the NPS deliberately lowering the risk rating to give probation officers more cases. Letting high risk offenders back into the community is not acgieving social control.
